Back in 1895, the .30-30 made its debut, being one of the first cartridges to enjoy the benefits of smokeless powder. The fact that it reached nearly 2,000 feet per second muzzle velocity made it very popular at the time, as it was considered to be very fast. Nowadays, 2,000 fps for a rifle bullet would be considered to be glacially slow.
Where I live in Eastern Pennsylvania, many of the “old-timers” reverently swear by the .30-30 cartridge. It’s married to the lever-action rifle or carbine, most often of the Marlin type. Many hunters here hunt in thick woodlands, where shots are frequently under 100 yards, and quite often, only reach about 50 yards. For such conditions, that rifle and ammo combo is perfection.
In fact, within 200 yards, the old lever action .30-30 is pretty tough to beat. Recoil is not stout. They’re typically short, handy rifles or carbines that perform well in close quarters or moderate distances. Many people have taken to using the old lever action as their truck gun.
In fact, the lever action carbine is making quite a resurgence currently, with people realizing the benefits of these handy, little rifles. Naturally, not all are chambered in the venerable .30-30, but a huge amount of them are. Classes are popping up around the country, teaching people how to run lever guns efficiently.
The .30-30 will take light game animals such as deer as well as larger game animals like black bear. It’s also pretty effective for repelling bipedal predators who would take glee in invading domiciles.
Despite the fact that the .30-30 is nearly 13 decades old, it’s still quite alive and kicking. Yes, there are other hotter, flatter-shooting rounds out there (and I love some of them), but there’s just something about hunting with an old lever gun and a cartridge that are both well over a century old. It’s that nostalgia factor, knowing that our great-great-grandfathers probably used a very similar (or perhaps that actual) rifle to hunt with. I guess it’s the same reason that some folks enjoy taking a flintlock out hunting.
Enter Hornady
A quick word about Hornady’s history. Back in 1949, with World War II in the rearview mirror, Joyce Hornady had a vision. He figured people would want to be able to buy bullets that were affordable enough to reload. As a point of fact, his early slogan was, “Accurate, deadly, dependable.”
Joyce was the son of a pastor, who died from an abscessed tooth (back in those days, medicine was not what it now is). Since the family needed to eat, Joyce learned to hunt, and that hunting grew into a passion for both hunting and shooting. During World War II, Joyce taught marksmanship to the security force at Grand Island Arsenal.
With all of the surplus ammunition left over from the war, Hornady began his line with a .30 caliber bullet that was suitable for hunting, since the FMJ rounds from the military were not preferred by hunters. There were plenty of cases, but not enough bullets, so Hornady began filling that niche.
The rest, as they say, is history. Over the decades, Hornady thrived and expanded, and today is a huge manufacturer of ammunition and components for reloading.
Whitetail Ammunition
My first experience with Hornady American Whitetail was with their 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition. At 200 yards, my rifle was shooting sub-MOA groups. I considered that to be extraordinary, considering that this is hunting ammo, not match ammunition. So a factory hunting round that shoots tiny groups at 200 yards got my attention in a marked way.
Recently, I acquired some American Whitetail .30-30 Winchester 150-Grain Interlock ammunition and wanted to see how it performs. Is it as good as other .30-30 ammunition on the market?
The .30-30 150-grain Interlock bullets feature an exposed lead round tip that allows controlled expansion. The fact that the lead tip is already exposed seems to give the bullet a “head-start” with its expansion. The lead, being soft as it is, will quickly deform when it hits a substantially solid medium.
Hornady advertises their “Interlock Ring,” which is a raised ring inside the bullet jacket and embedded into the bullet’s core. It keeps the jacket and core together while the round expands. This is important so that the bullet penetrates sufficiently. If the bullet and jacket separate, there’s not as much penetration and the wound tends to be more shallow. This is actually a consideration with pistol bullets as well, since penetration has proven to be crucial for stopping attackers. Since game animals are flesh too, it only makes sense that the concept would work in the hunting field (and it is proven that it does).
Hornady states that they load these cartridges to conventional velocities. Incidentally, the velocity listed for this load is 2,390 feet per second. That’s quite a bit faster than the original velocities from when the .30-30 was in its infancy, and just goes to show you how efficient modern powders can be.
For the Hornady American Whitetail line, this 150-grain load is the only bullet for the .30-30 in that lineup.
Marlin 336
The rifle that I used to test this ammunition is a Marlin 336 with a 20-inch barrel. It was produced in 1973 and was used by my dad for many hunting seasons. Actually, he never used another rifle for deer hunting as long as he hunted. Needless to say, this rifle holds a very sentimental place in my heart, as my dad is no longer with us.
Marlin’s 336 has been produced since 1948. When Marlin went out of business, Ruger began producing them. It’s an excellent design. The side ejection permits a scope to easily be mounted as opposed to the top ejection of some other models. Beginning in 1956, Marlin began drilling and tapping receivers for easy scope mounting.
Marlin’s Model 336 is one of the most popular lever actions ever produced, with over six million having been made. Over the decades, it has been offered in a plethora of calibers, but the .30-30 has to be one of the most popular offerings.
My rifle is 38.5 inches long and weighs approximately seven pounds. Six rounds are held in the tubular magazine underneath the barrel.
Home On The Range
How did the Hornady American Whitetail .30-30 150-grain fodder do at the range? Splendidly!
I wish I had some sort of highly technical, illustratively colorful story to spin about it, but it simply did everything it was asked to. I didn’t shoot this round for group size on this particular range trip. We were clanging steel targets, and the rifle/ammo combo hit everything we were aiming at (when we did our part, which was most of the time). At 50 yards, hits were easy on smallish targets.
I will say that considering my experience with the Hornady American Whitetail ammo in 6.5 Creedmoor, I’m 100% certain this ammunition will be exceptionally accurate too. And the way we were ringing steel, it bears this out, especially considering that the .30-30 isn’t a 500-yard cartridge. Fifty yards is a realistic expectation for the .30-30 in the hunting field, and this ammo will reach out farther than that, without a doubt.
Recoil was about the same as most other rounds of this caliber, and certainly was less than some of the 170-grain ammunition that I used from another manufacturer in a prior shooting session. Feeding and ejection were perfect, as we’d expect. This makes sense, considering that Hornady is at the very top of the heap when it comes to cartridge components.
Do I recommend this ammunition? Absolutely! It is superior in every way. As I write this, it’s available for $31.99 per box of 20 rounds. While that’s not cheap, it’s less expensive than some of the other rounds out there. To me, it’s certainly worth it.
